Knitted fabric and method of making same



J, MCNAMEE Dec. 2 7, 1938.

KNITTED FABRIC AND METHOD OF' MAKING SAME 1958 4 Sheveis-Shet 2 Filed Jan. 3l

I INVNTR JAMES MC NAMEE BY Hls ATTORNEYS Il f 4 n f Dec. 27,- 1938.

,1. MCNAMEE KNITTED FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Jan. 3l, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR .JAMES Mc NAME:

BY HIS ATTORNEYS '.1. MCNAMEE Dec. 27, 1938.

KNITTED FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 3l, 1938 gaat INVENTOR JAMES MC NAMEE BY HIS ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 27, 1938 l UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,141,999v KNITTED FABRIC AND METHGD F MAKING SAME James McNamee, Ballston Spa, N. Y. Application January 31, 1938, Serial No. 187,994

10 Claims. (Cl. 66-198) This invention relates to weft knit fabric and understood that it can be made on a single feed the method of making same, and more particularmachine. I will rst describe the invention from ly to the obtaining of an inelastic knit fabric. the point of view of the two-thread fabric. lIn One of the disadvantages of ordinary weft knit the drawings various fabrics are shown, all but fabric is that it is elastic and therefore not pracone of them being knit with two threads in each tical for certain uses, such for instance as for course of the fabric. In Fie- 6 iS ShOWu e deshrts or other outerwear. It is an object of this gram 0f a fabric in Which rdill Stitches are tight invention to produce a substantially inelastic Ones. In these gures Y10 attempt has been made weft knit fabric by the use of a Spring beard neet0 indicate the particular Shapes 0f the Stitches 10 dle knitting machine, preferably a circular united 01 the DIOXimitieS 0f the Various DOItOnS 0f the 10 needle machine. It is characteristic of fabrics yarns. knit in accordance with my invention that there I have discovered that itis possible t0 DIOduce is a yarn in the fabric which was fed taut under `inelastic weft knit plein fabrics by making eX- and over the tops of the needles and knit on1y traordinarily tight stitches With'other stitches in in spaced wales, with stitches wedged between between two edioininstight stitches. v 15 adjoining stitches of the tight yarn. This tight In the cese 'of the modern latch needle ma- Or binding yarn is very much` tighter than any Chine the Size 0f the hOOk and latch 0f the needle ordinary body yarn and holds the fabric together Over which the stitch must be cast Off detersubstantially without elasticity. Fabrics made in mines the minimum size of stitch that can be accordance with my -invention have novel and made. This is much larger than the minimum 2O pleasing appearances and feel and look like woven SiZe stitch Which can be mede 0h a Spring needle goods. y machine' where the limiting factor is the amount In the drawings, of slack drawn by the stitch wheel. However even Fig. 1 is an expanded diagrammatic View of this Wheel must penetrate a Certain distance be- I the interlacing of the yarns of a two-yarn fabric 1 tween the needles in order to hold the wheel itself 25 made according to my invention, it being underin mesh With the needles and t0 keep the Yel'h stood that in the actual fabric the stitches are in POSitiOn 0u the Wheel I have dScOVered a drawn close together; method of feeding a yarn on a spring needle ma- Fig. 2 is an expanded diagrammatic view simchine which draws less than half the amount of 3o ilar tc Fig. 1, of a modified fabric in which a yarn drawn by a regular Stitch wheel and which 30 plain course of knitting is alternated with' one of therefore produces stitches of very much less my novel courses; size than the tightest stitch heretofore possible.` Fig. 3 is a plan view of a development of the (I shall hereinafter speak of this regular tight needle circle showing the stages of knitting the stitch of the prior art as the normal tight Stitch.) novel fabric; Actually the length of my binding yarn used in 35 Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of a development e given number 0f stitches can be less than half of the needles, wheels and yarns corresponding to the length of the ordinary or body yam Fig. 3; y The actual interlacing of the yarn in the fln- Fig, 5 is an expanded diagrammatic View simlslledV two-thread fabricas distinguished from 40 ilar to Figs- 1 and 2 of a Second modified form the relative yarn lengths, appearance of the fab- '40 of fabric in which there are no plain courses and Iic and its method 0f manufacture-is not brOadthe two types of stitches are not staggered as in ly neW- Thus the patent t0 Robert W- Lawson Fig 1; 1,961,636, dated July 5, 1934, shows the yarns Fig. 6 is an expanded diagrammatic view sim- Dessine through the Various 1009s in the Seme ilar to Figs. 1, 2 and 5, but on a larger scala-of a Order, but there the resemblance StOPS- l 45 third modified form of fabric knit of a single yarn TO the best 0f my knowledge and belief, my

in each stitch; method of knitting a tight stitch is new. 'It has Fig. 'i is a view showing the appearance cf the heretofore been known in the making of eecy fabric of Fig. 1; fabric on spring needle machines to interlace the Fig 3 is a, View Showing the appearance of the looping or slack yarn by deflecting alternate nee- 50 fabric 0f Fig, 2;-whi1e dles radially out of line and vlaying the yarn ln.

Fig. 9 is a view showing the appearance of the By deiiecting alternate needles I2 radially out of fabric of Fig. 5. line and feeding a binding yarn in a straight line,

The novel fabric is produced most economicalpreferably under tension, between the rows of de- ;5 1y on a multi-feed machine, though it should be flected and non-deflected needles, the first stage 55 in my method of procedure is accomplished. The yarn is then pushed up under the beards Il of the deflected needles and in back of the non-defiected needles I3 till the yarn lies in a straight line at the top I5 of the bends in the needles. It will lie under and over successive needles, as shown in Fig. 4. It will be observed that the yarn is still taut and not slack as is the case in a yarn fed through a stitch wheel. 'I'his tautn'ess is not 110 lost through the rest of the manipulation and therefore the stitches are extraordinarily tight. As these tight stitches 25 and the bights 3| connecting them are part of the entire 'cloth and not only connect the wales together but also-connect the courses together, there is only a minimum of expansibility in the fabric, both in coursewise and walewise directions.

As already mentioned, my new methodl can be carried out and my fabric produced on a circular spring beard needle machine, i. e., a spring beard needle machine where wheels are 'used t0 cause the manipulations of the yarn and needles.

I shall now describe one feed of such a machine.

Considered in the direction of movement of the needles, theflrst wheel is the-interlacing wheel I6. This meshes with the needles and vis rotated by them, and in such rotation presses alternate needles I 2- radially inward out of line owing to the usual plugs between every alternate rpair of blades (not shown) in the wheel. 'I'his wheel is mounted at an angle with the horizontal outside the needle circle, as usual. The tight or binding yarn II lines of needles created by the interlacing wheel,

the yarn preferably coming from a tension device (not shown) which keeps it taut. It will be noted that in this way the yarn is laid in in a straightline or single arc. as distinguished from being pressed in between every pair of needles into a slack loop. 'Ihis interlacing wheel is located at such an elevation and proximity to the needle circle that the deflection is suiiicient to have the yarn lie between the two circles of needles below the points of the beards of the needles. As soonA as the interlacing wheel lets go of the needles they tend to return to a straight line and the yarn is interlaced in back and in front of alternate needles as tightly as possible. This resumption of single line position by the needles does not cause the drawing of additional yarn, and I have found by test that a given length of yarn fed to the needles by the above method covers twice as many needles as it is possible to cover by the same length of yarn fed to a spring beard needle machine. In the meantimethe usual'cloth wheel I1 has been pushing the old loops further down the needles. Since the length of yarn was in the first instance laid in a straight line in the machine, it followsrthat this binding yarn is as short as is practically possible.

The next step is to raise the binding yarn II to the very tops of the needles, this being done by a liftingv wheel I8 outside the needle circle which precedes the. regular stitch Wheel for the body yarn. This lifting wheel raises the binding yarn to. the very tops I5 of the needles where it is under the hook of every other needle and lies straight across on the tops of the intervening needles I3, again assuming practically a straight line. This gets the tight yarn out of the way. of the blades of the stitch wheel for the regular yarn and it isA now possible to feed this regular yarn 22 by its ordinary stitch wheel I9, which thereafter presses the regular stitches between the needles -and raises them up under the beards I4 in the is lpresented between the twoA stitches von the alternate needles presser thus serves to usual manner. Without the lifting wheel I8 it would be impossible to draw the loops of the regular yarn 22, The stitches are then cast off by 'the regular mechanism, which includes av main presser 20, an inside lander wheel 2| and a castoi wheel 23. In this way the body or regular yarn knits a stitch 24 on every needle and the tight or binding yarn knits a stitch 25 on every other needle. The bights of binding yarn between the tight stitches coming off the alternate needles are very short and in conjunction with the very tight across the intervening stitches of the regular yarn, combine the whole fabric together in inelastic form.

To keep my novel fabric very tight, there must.

stitches ofv this yarn stretching` be som'e sort of stitch wedged between each two tight stitches in the final fabric. This may be done by having the body yarn knit on every needle with a common stitch wheel, as described above, or by having a yarn knit only on the intervening needles I3 so that the stitches of this body yarn 22 would lie between the stitches of the binding Jyarn II, which itself is knit on alternate needles I2 (Fig. 6). In this lattery form it is possible to make tight stitches of. bothvyarns by the use of two interlacing wheels .such as above described, instead of one interlacing wheel and one stitch Wheel.

The fabric may be made and the method carried out on either a multi-feed or a single feed machine Thus on a single feed machine successive courses .may make tight stitches on the same needles or may alternate with the tight in one course and on the intervening needles" on/ the next course. As already mentioned, it is possible to make one form of this fabric out of a single yarn, and this can be done on'a single feed machine by having an interlacing wheel for the binding yarn rather than a4 regular stitch wheel. In this case, in order to obtain the stitches between two adjoining tigh-t stitches in a course, it is necessary that the machine have an odd number of needles in it. Thus the tight stitch in one wale will come first in one wale and then the next wale on the succeeding courses. When using only one yarn at a feed, there must be a cut presser at that feed to prevent casting off at those needles where the yarn was above the top of the needle. I'his cut prevent complete casting off of the fabric due to lack of loops under the beards.

On a multi-feed machine ity will be obvious that any number of feeds having the combination of stitch wheel for the body yarn can be provided.

In this case the setting or meshing of the wheels with .x the needles vdetermines whether a tight stitch in the two courses will come in the same Wale or the adjoining Wale. If the two interlacing wheels of the two adjacent feeds are set to deflect the same needles, the tight stitches made at the two feeds will occur in the same wale. If the two interlacing wheels press'the needles in alaternation, ternate wales. It will be obvious that more4 than two feeds can be used byfollowing the same principle, obtaining any pattern variation that is desired.l If the machine has an odd. number of needles and the desired form which tight stitches are in alternate wales in adjacent courses'throughout the fabric, then the machine should have an odd number of feeds to carry the alternation through then the tight stitches will be .in al-" 70 of fabric is that in from one revolumation with a single course `tight stitches serves to tion of the needle cylinder to the next. With an even number of needles in the cylinder and employing two or more even number of feeds on the machine, the alternation of wales in which the tight stitches are present would be accomplished by meshing the interlacing wheels of adjacent feeds to operate lon different needles.

Another possible modification in my novel fabric is to inter'calate courses 26 of plain knitting or courses of other types of knitting with courses 21 of the novel stitch construction above described. Thus in Fig. 2 has been shown an alternation of one course of my novel stitch forof plain knitting. Thereis no appreciable loss in firmness and nonextensibility of the fabric due to the intercalation of the plain single courses. The bights 32 of the tight yarn and the tight stitches 25 are no less tight.

Not only does my fabric hold rmly and tightly together, but the appearance of the fabric is novel and attractive. In Figs. '7, 8 and 9 the attractive and novel appearances of the three forms of my fabric are shown. This fabric possesses certain characteristic attractive qualities of balance and depth, in addition to the inelasticity and firmness.

In the ordinary knitted fabric therev is greater extensibility in a coursewise direction than in a walewise direction. In my novel fabric the wedging of stitches between each two adjoining bring the extensibility in the two directions into balance, and the filling, combined with the tight stitches, therefore produces a fabric which is substantially inelastic in both coursewise and walewise directions. I also nd that the fabric is substantially inelastic to the same extent and-degree in diagonal directions. The filling, bulk or body is of course best obtained by knitting two yarns in each course, so that at least certain stitcheshave two yarns in them. It is preferable, when knitting with 'Y 2 show this preferred .on ton of the two yarns, to use yarns of the same size. The preferred embodiment of my invention is the form in which the tight stitches are in staggered wales and the bulk or filling includes plain stitches of a second yarn. While both Figs. 1 and form, from thepoint of view of inelasticity and balance the form of Fig. l is preferable to that of Flg.,2; The embodiment of Fig. 2 is slightly more economical of yarn than the embodiment of Fig. l.

The pertinent elements of the usual spring beard needle circular machine having been described, the manipulation of the machine to produce the novel fabric shown in Fig. E where there are no intervening plain courses yand the tight stitches 25 occur on alternate needles I2 in successive courses, will, now be described. I will describe only one feed. The usual cloth wheel I1 inside the needle circle pushes the knitted cloth down until the loops on the needles are near the base of the needles, all -in the usual manner. With the cloth in `this position and the needles entirely fclear of loops except for these loops at the base, the interlacing wheel I6 presses every other needle I2 radially inward and the binding yarn I I is laid ina straight line between the two circles of needles below the points lof the beards I4. As soon as the needles are released, the lifting wheel I8, which follows the interlacing wheel IB, immediately' starts lifting the binding yarnv II up to the tops I5 of the needles until it is under the beards of the alternate needles I2 and intervening needles II. -Next the regular stitch wheel I9 feeds the body yarn 22 inthe usual manner to every needle, taking slack or bights 28 of yarn between each two needles. Thereafter the needles encounter a presser 20 which closes the beards, while from the inside of the needle circle the lander wheel 2l works the cloth upward over thepoints of the beards, while they are closed. The needles then pass beyond the presser and encounter the castoif wheel 23 which, lyingon vthe inside of the circle. casts off the fabric forming a new course of stitches, as

above described. In this final operation a goodlyportion of the bight of the tight yarn is absorbed in the formation of the tight stitch. The final bight 3| exerts a strong pull on the adjoining tight stitches, holding them as close together as possible.

When in a multi-feed machine, consecutive interlacing wheels work on different needlesthere being an even number of needles in the cylinder-the result is the same as a single feed working with an odd number of needles in the cylinder. When the tight stitches in consecutive courses occur in alternatewales, as mentioned, for example, in the preceding sentence, the tight stitch of one course will be cast off over the plain stitch of the succeeding course. In this way the so-called open ends 29 of each common stitch 24 are completely and tightly closed by the tight stitch. It is pointed out that although in instead of having a float thread with a normal length of float and a given numberof ordinary stitches in the coursemy fabric has a tight thread from which a given number of exceedingly tight stitches have been formed substantially from what might otherwise be called the float portions. In other words, the'thread is so excessively tight tighter than have heretofore been possible, the fabric has almost no elasticity left in it and the stitches are so small that they have practically no elasticity in them.

I find that this kn tted fabric has the appearance of woven goods and therefore can be used without sales resistance where woven goods have heretofore been used. The fabric has remarkable depth, tightness and balance, all inherent in its construction. It is free from the twist which is sometimes found in knitted cloth, and not only are its knitted wales unapparent. thereby giving it the appearance of woven goods, but its body, depth, f'lrmness'and balance give it the feel of woven goods. f

Other modifications which do not depart from that it has composite stitches the scope of my invention will occur to those.y

skilled in the art;

What I claim is: n 1.l A weft knit fabric containing a plurality of courseseach knit of two yarns, one yarn being knit at least in every alternate Wale of the fabric and the other yarn only in the intervening walesl in the same course, the stitches of the first-mentioned yarn being normal tight stitches and the length of the second yarn in such a. course being not more than half that-of the first yarn, whereby the fabric is h ld compact in a substantially inelastic condition.

2. A knitted fabric in which two weft yarns are knit in each course, at least one of said yarns being knit only in alternate wales and the other with as great or greater frequency, the stitches of at least one yarn being knit substantially twice as tight as a normal tight sttch so as to draw nate needles, raising it tn the a. s'of the needles trip of the next` needle while maintaining the yarn taut,

and hold the wales together, eliminating substantially all the elasticity of the fabric.

3. A fabric containing a plurality'ofsuccessive courses each knit of a. body yarn and a binding yarn, the body yarnbeing formed into normal tight stitches in everywale'in a course, .and the binding yarn being floated across intervening wales and knit in alternate wales, the stitches of .the binding yarn being not more than-half the sizeof the stitches of the otheriyarn, whereby the wales are held together and the fabric is substantially inelastic. l

4. A weft knit plain fabric containing a body yarn and a binding yarn in eachcourse, the body yarn being formed into normal tight stitches in a plurality of successive wales andgsuccessive courses, in combination -with. binding yarn formed into stitches in spaced singleuwales only;v

the length of the lbinding yarn in"a.p1uralityl of.;4 wales -being less than half the .'correspondingf-vlength of the body yarn, whereby the iialbriclis made substantially inelastic.

5. Av weft knit plain fabric con a. body yarn and a binding yarn l stitches in spaced wal only, the length yarn, whereby vthe fabric is made inelastic. 1

6. A-inethod of knitting fabric on .a spring'- beard l needle machine, comprising the steps` of under the beard of one and or feeding a second yarn by means of a stitch Wheel and knitting oif both yarns, whereby the rst Y yarn holds the wales and courses together in subfy stantially inelastic condition. '7. A method of knitting fabric on a spring beard needle machine,

.of the,` binding yarn in a plurality of wales being than half the corresponding length of theA i in comprising the steps of l formed, bringing the needles all back into one line and raising the vyarn to the tops oi' the needles under the beard of one needle and on top of the next in such-manner that the yarn will lie in a substantially straight line', feeding a second yarn to all the needles by means of a stitch wheel and then knitting off both yarns, whereby the rst yarn will hold the fabric together, making it inelastic. i I

8. A method of knitting fabric on a spring beard needle machine, comprising the steps of forming stitches on alternate needlesby interlacing a yarn between the shanks of alternate needles while maintaining it taut, raising it under the beards of alternate needles till it lies substantially straight over and under the tops of thelneedles, knitting oil said yarn and producing other stitches to lie wedged between each two -such adjoining tight stitches, whereby a substanti Ylly inelastic fabric is produced.

A method of knitting fabric on a spring beard needle machine, comprising the steps of terlacing a binding yarn between the Shanks of `alt'elri'ia-te needles, raising it under the beards of normal amount of slack and then knitting off th'fyarns simultaneously, whereby a substanazllylinelastlc fabric is produced.

"A weft knit plain fabriccor taining a. body and a binding yarn in each of a plurality of -essive courses, the body yarn being formed tervening wales. the binding yarn in a co se` being. no t more than half the length of o responding body yarn,. whereby the fabric ade 'substantially inelastic.

- JAMES MCNAMEE.

'dyyarn to all the needles with at least the A 

